


Rising is like Falling

by erbine99



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Lost Girl
Genre: F/F, so recently it struck me that this could be my favorite crossover ship ever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23136280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erbine99/pseuds/erbine99
Summary: Tamsin is ready for the Rising - to be reincarnated as another Valkyrie. But what happens is more like a falling. When she wakes up she finds herself in another world - a very similar one, but another world. Post season 5 Lost Girl, Post season 7 buffy
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Tamsin (Lost Girl)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I freakin' hated how Lost Girl season 5 went. Tamsin? Should not be dead. So here's me fixing it and trying to give her a girlfriend. This is likely to be fairly short as such things go. (and I promise I'll be back to my bering and wells fic, Travelers)

Death isn’t new to me. I’ve had many lifetimes, and many deaths. This last one was supposed to be different, a real end. My Rising.  
  
This is different, but it’s not an end - unless this is some kind of hell I haven’t seen before.  
  
I have the distinct feeling of having been yanked sideways. Maybe not sideways. In a direction that I’ve never moved in before. Something entirely out of the realm of left and right, or up and down.  
It’s dark, and I am face-down on the ground, and naked as the long-ago day I was born. Awareness floods my mind, and I realize that my body has changed. It’s like I was never pregnant.  
Looking around me, there is no Bo, no newborn child. I am alone. And freakin’ cold. Wherever the fuck I am, it is cool, damp, and unpleasant. From what little light I can see, wherever I am has a low ceiling supported by pillars. Next to me is… ew. A coffin. Standing up, I peer over it.  
  
The coffin is open, and there’s nothing inside. I can smell the echo of death in this room. It’s all around me, and it makes me shiver.  
  
Then I hear something. The clatter of feet on stone. Someone is running. A few feet away, a door opens, and moonlight streams into the crypt.  
  
Haloed in the moonlight is a woman. Brown hair, brown eyes. As my eyes strain for a moment, I wonder if it’s Bo.  
  
She barrels through the door, and then stops once she sees me. “Tell me you’re not a very naked demon,” she presses me in a Boston accent. That’s… definitely not Bo, although all the leather she’s wearing is trying to convince me otherwise. I’m about to deny it when a man who stinks like the coffin runs in after her.  
  
“Slayer,” he growls at the woman. Is that her name? Because it’s very eighties. She pulls a stake from her jacket, and shoots a look at me.  
  
“Stand back,” she orders. Taking a second look at the man, there’s something very wrong with his face, a bumpiness I’ve never seen before. Can’t be human, but I’ve never seen a fae like that. The woman seems human, but not incapable. I decide to let her handle the situation.  
  
“He’s all yours,” I reply. The woman turns her back on me, and lunges at the creature (underfae? Something else?). Quickly I reassess her - that kind of speed doesn’t quite seem human.  
The thing throws a punch and she catches it expertly, pulling him towards her, and swinging that stake at him with her other arm. She connects with his heart and… what the hell. He explodes into dust. Not the weirdest thing I’ve seen, but pretty high up there. This woman is a warrior. I’m sure her soul is valued in Valhalla. She dusts herself off and turns to face me.  
  
“Do you want to explain what’s going on here?” I ask. She looks at me incredulously.  
  
“You’re the one who should be explaining. What are you doing here without a stitch on?” she says. “Shit. Before you tell me, take this.” She pulls her leather jacket off, revealing a white tank top. She tosses the jacket to me. I catch it, and put it on quickly. It’s still warm, something I desperately need right now. I walk a little bit closer to her, catching sight of the tribal tattoo circling her right arm. I don’t know what to tell her. I don’t have the slightest idea of how I got here.  
  
“That… is something I don’t know myself. One second I’m dying, the next second I’m here, and naked, and things are different, and you’re fighting that thing. What was that, anyway.” The woman sighs, scratching the back of her head.  
  
“So, real quick run-down here. Magic is a thing, vampires are a thing. Don’t panic,” she explains. I laugh. If that was a vampire, I’ll eat this jacket. Vampires are real, sure, but they don’t go poof when you stake them. They leave a goddamned bloody mess.  
  
“I’ve seen vampires. Annoying sure, but nothing like that with the face,” I say, gesturing to my own non-bumpy face.  
  
“That was a vampire,” she repeats. “And we have to get out of here before more of them come.” That last part was probably true. That thing looked nasty, though she dealt with it pretty well.  
“First, a question. Do you have a name? Is it Slayer? Because if it is, I'm going to laugh.” In the moonlight, I thought I saw her roll her eyes.  
  
“I’m Faith. Slayer is what I am, not my name.” she said, heading back towards the door to the crypt.  
  
“I’m Tamsin,” I said. Then Faith laughed.  
  
“Your name is Tamsin, and you think Slayer is weird?,” she asked.  
  
“Point taken,” I replied, as I followed her out the door. In my defense, Tamsin was a fairly normal name a couple thousand years ago. Outside, I found myself in a cemetery. The stench of death was particularly appalling here, though most of it wasn’t fresh. Faith headed through the rows of tombstones purposefully, and I followed her.  
  
“Do you have pants somewhere?” I asked. The whole naked and cold thing was getting old. Faith turned around quickly, and pressed a finger to her lips. Right. The “vampires”. To the left of us was another crypt. I saw the door slide open as Faith turned back around. Four more of these bumpy faced creatures streamed out of the crypt, snarling. Could this woman handle this many?  
  
Instantly, there was a stake in her hand.  
  
“Slayer,” one of the creatures growled. Did they say anything else? He turned to face me. “Slayer and… naked woman,” he laughed. I didn’t know if this woman could handle this all herself, so I felt the death around me and pulled it inward, casting doubt on the men.  
  
“You are useless. You can’t take Faith on on her own, so you form teams of equally useless monsters, and still can’t defeat her.” I said, my face skeletal. Much of it was a guess, but it seemed like the right thing to say at the moment. One by one, the “vampires” dropped. And then so did I, out like a light.

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamsin wakes up in a bedroom that is not her own, with Willow Rosenburg staring at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot to this is beginning to come together for me. Don't expect the third update this quickly, I've got to do another chapter for my Bering and Wells fic.

I wake up warmer than before. I’m in a bed, but not my own. As I slowly become aware of my surroundings, I realize that I am wearing clothes - baggy sweatpants and an oversized tee shirt. As I open my eyes, I realize I am being watched. A petite red-headed woman is staring quizzically at me. Her left hand is glowing bright green.  
  
“You’re not from around here, are you?,” she asks. I’m beginning to get the sense that I’m not.  
  
“That depends on where here is,” I reply. The hand stops glowing. She sighs.  
  
“You have hopped dimensions. Not a common thing, but it’s happening more often now. Are you from the world without shrimp?” she asks.  
  
“Definitely a world with shrimp,” I say. She nods. I try to sit up in bed, but find both my hands tied down. The redhead grimaces.  
  
“Sorry about that. Initially we thought you were a demon. Of course now, I have no idea what you are, which might make you more dangerous.” She pauses for a moment. “But from what I can tell, I’m the most dangerous person in this room. And you did help Faith out, so…” Her hand glows again, and my bonds vanish. “I’m Willow, by the way. Hurt anyone here and you’ll wish you’d never set foot in this dimension.” Her face brightens and she smiles. “Sorry to give you the “I will beat you over the head with a shovel” talk. Trust me, we run into some dangerous people here, and it’s necessary. I don’t mean you any harm.” I nod slowly. I guess if someone was a threat to the happy sunshine gang, I might be just as aggressive. “Faith!,” she yells. “She’s awake.”  
  
The brunette woman I’d seen earlier opened the door to the bedroom and walked in. She had at some point gotten her leather jacket back from me.  
  
“Did you figure anything out, Will?” Faith asked. Willow shook her head.  
  
“Very little. But she’s not all demonic or anything. Can’t tell exactly what she is, other than the whole from another dimension thing, but she’s not more powerful than a Slayer. Should be easy enough to handle, seeing as you have a whole little army here.”  
  
“Can we not talk about me while I’m right here?” I ask, pointing at myself. Willow smiles, and looks at Faith.  
  
“Do you think you can take this from here? I’ve got to check on the walls between dimensions. This happened so soon after the last incident - it’s getting worse.” Willow says. Faith nods, and with a flash of green, Willow is gone. That woman creeps the hell out of me.  
  
“What are you, and where are you from?,” asks Faith. Straight and to the point. Something about her, maybe just the way she carries herself, reminds me of Bo. I want to trust her, despite my cold welcome from her friend. I’m wondering how much I should say. Clearly I won’t be breaking any Fae rules by telling her what I am. Even if the Fae are in this world, they seem to know all about magic.  
  
“I’m Tamsin. Valkyrie, dark fae,” I say, keeping it simple. “And I want to know what you are.” Faith raises her eyebrows. It’s almost cute.  
  
“I’ve never run into one of those here, and I’ve seen most types of demon.” I sigh at this.  
  
“Definitely not a demon.”  
“I think I’m getting that,” says Faith. “I’m a vampire slayer.”  
  
“Isn’t that what you do, not what you are?,” I ask. Faith laughs.  
  
“Anyone can slay a vampire. Only a few of us are Slayers. Comes with power. It’s a whole sacred duty bullshit.” Sacred duty - those are familiar to me. Not that I’ve really deserved mine.  
  
“The sorceress-witch-woman said something about an issue with the walls between dimensions?” I said, hoping I could get back home somehow. How amazing would it be to get to go back and raise Dagny. Even watching Lauren and Bo be sickeningly in love would be worth it.  
  
“She knows more about dimensiony stuff than I do. But we’ve had a lot of… visitors lately. Most of them unfriendly. If Willow scared you, I’m sorry. Sometimes she gives me a wiggins too,” Faith said, scratching her head. I reached up to my own hair, and a bit of it came off in my hand. Shit. That was gonna be a problem. Faith looked at me with concern.  
  
“You five by five?,” she asked. I assumed that she was asking if I was okay, and not if I had strong radio signal.  
  
“It’s definitely not a good sign,” I said. “It’s happened before though. I’m probably dying again.” Faith widened her eyes.  
  
“Again? I have a friend who died twice. That’s not usual around here though.” I laughed, the sound hollow.  
  
“It’s been a lot more than twice. Before I got here, it was supposed to be the last time. Not sure what’s happening.” Faith nodded, still a little perplexed. I stood up, ran my hands through my hair again. Nothing more fell out, a small blessing. “You got something to eat? Nothing makes me hungrier than the thing I did to those - you called them vampires,” A smile crossed Faith’s face.  
  
“I get hungry fightin’ vamps too. Side effect of the Slayer thing.” She heads toward the open door. “I can make you some eggs - you do eat food and not people, right?” I decide it’s a smart idea not to tell her that I feed off the dying energy of souls before I take them to Valhalla. That’s not something you share with someone on the first meeting.  
  
“Eggs sound amazing.” She exits the room, and I follow her. The hallway is full of noise. There are women everywhere, most of whom look a few years younger than Faith. The brunette gestures to the hall around us. The girls are gawking at me.  
  
“Welcome to Slayer HQ, Tamsin. You might be here a while.”

  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamsin gets something to eat, and learns more about the coming apocalypse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back, and it's time for EXPOSITION!
> 
> You may notice that I'm using a bit of the stuff from season 8. Not all of season 8 will be canon, just the stuff I mention (so you definitely don't have to have read it). We're probably going to see Satsu later, though.

There’s something odd about all these girls. None of them is quite as old as Faith, and I can feel that every single one is a warrior. They don’t look the part, not at all. 

They’re all gathered around me curiously. Faith’s standing at the stove, haphazardly pushing scrambled eggs around a frying pan. The kitchen is enormous, but that makes sense with all the girls who live here. 

I sit down at the counter, and one particularly brave woman sits beside me. She looks older than most of them, more confident. She has brown hair, and her own leather jacket, almost a younger Faith. 

She stares at me for a moment, then directs a question to Faith. “Did Willow say she’s safe?” she asks. For the second time today, people are talking about me like I’m not there. It’s getting irritating.

“If she acts up, it shouldn’t be a problem for a couple of us to take her.” replies Faith. “Not that I’m expecting that,” she says to me with a wink. Kennedy nods, satisfied. I want to say something, threaten to kick an ass or two. But I don’t want to see the witch bitch again, and I don’t want these people to be afraid of me. 

“And WIllow - is she coming back?” asks the woman, hopeful. Faith frowns.

“I sure as hell hope not.” I mutter. The woman sitting next to me glares. Faith sighs.

“Kennedy, you’ve gotta stop pining after her. She’s moved on,” Faith admonishes. Kennedy sighs. 

“You dated the witch?” I ask. To date someone with that kind of power… I can hardly imagine it. Then I remember that the woman I love is the daughter of the god of death, and a succubus to boot, and I revise my opinion of Kennedy. 

“Three years,” Kennedy says, cracking her knuckles loudly. “Then she meets some snake-goddess in another dimension and everything is over.” I know the look on this woman’s face. I’ve seen it on my own. She’s definitely still pining.

Faith pushes the eggs again - she’s not good at this, they’re all choppy, not together in one nice egg-chunk. “She’s not coming back, and you need to move on.” 

Kennedy narrows her eyes. “As if you’ve ever moved on,” she mutters. Faith glares at her murderously, then pulls out several paper plates and piles them with generous helpings of eggs. 

“One more word, and I take you off patrol tonight,” threatens Faith. Kennedy mimes zipping her lips. There seems to be a lot of drama in this household. Faith smiles, tight lipped, and passes me a plate and a fork.”Does anyone else want eggs?” she asks the girls gathered around me. A few more of them take seats around the counter. Ketchup is placed on the table, and I squirt some over my eggs. 

Despite them not being quite expertly made, I am starving, and it tastes delicious. Sitting to my left is a redhead who eats voraciously, but keeps quiet. She’s wearing a beanie on her head. 

My mind winds back to something Kennedy said - Willow’s dating a snake goddess from another dimension. First of all, weird. Secondly - does that mean Willow can travel between dimensions? Could she take me back to the happy sunshine gang? “Can Willow travel between dimensions?” I ask between mouthfuls of eggs. 

“She could. The state things are in right now, dimensional travel makes the walls between worlds weaker. She’s been stuck here for months,” explains Kennedy. She seems almost pleased about this. 

That screws up my chances to get home. I guess I’m stuck here for the moment. 

“The world-walls started breaking about 5 years ago. Buffy fought this Goddess who tried to crash every world into this one. They sealed things up, and Glory is super dead now, but the world-walls got damaged in the process,” says the red-head next to me. “I’m Vi - I should have introduced myself before I started info-dumping on you.” I’ve been wondering how to get home, but now the thing I’m most worried about is that what’s happening here could affect Bo, Kenzi, Dyson, and even Lauren. This doesn’t sound like the kind of issue that would stay confined to one place.

Faith’s eating standing up, leaning against the counter. A chunk of eggs falls off her plate and she picks it up with her fingers and plops it into her mouth. “Sorry to introduce you to the apocalypse, Tamsin,” she says. Something about the way Faith says ‘apocalypse’ tells me she’s dealt with this before.

“This is not my first rodeo,” I reply. Faith looks at me as if reassessing me. 

“Welcome to the club, girl,” she says, almost enthusiastically. I push my finished plate of eggs away from me. How many apocalypses is this for everyone now?,” she asks. I see her counting on her fingers. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Damn. 

“This is my third,” offers Kennedy. 

“Second,” Vi chimes in. From around the world, I hear numbers. A few first timers, lots of twos, one more three. 

“Third time’s the charm, right?,” I add. “So who’s this goddess fighter, Buffy?”  
Faith smiles proudly. 

“The best of us.” Kennedy snort-laughs.

“The first of us, at least.” Kennedy adds. 

“The real Slayer. From when there was only one of us,” Faith adds. 

Back in the throng of girls, I hear someone grumble “We’re all real Slayers,”. Faith, for her part, has seemed fairly real to me.

“You’ll meet her soon. She and her squad are off, taking care of a different visitor from another world right now,” said Faith. 

“So what do we do to stop all this?” I asked. Faith frowned.

“I don’t have a solution for you. Willow might, but she’s still working on it. What we do is take care of the symptoms. Red gets to treat the problem with magic, we get to kick the ass of whatever lands here while we wait.” I nodded. So this problem was, for the moment, above my pay-grade. Bo had been the one to handle most of the big problems at home too.

Faith collected the plates from the slayers and I and tossed them in the trash. She dropped the pan into the sink haphazardly. All this information had been very overwhelming.

“I need a drink.” I announced. Faith nodded, understanding. 

“It’s eleven o’ clock in the morning,” said Kennedy. 

“Maybe it’s five o’clock in my dimension. I need alcohol, stat.” Faith reached into the fridge, and pulled out a beer. Not quite the alcohol content I had been looking for, but it would do. 

“Can I get a beer?,” asked one of the younger slayers. Faith laughed.

“You’re seventeen, Dana. Next apocalypse, I promise,” said Faith. I ripped the top of the beer open with my teeth, and began to chug. This was going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamsin meets Buffy Summers, and learns a little bit about the complicated dynamic in the house.

It takes a few beers for the whole situation to sink in. Faith cut me off after my fourth, despite my protests. 

I’m only a little bit buzzed by the time Buffy Summers, goddess killer, walks in. A group of girls in various states of disarray trail after her. 

She doesn’t look like a fighter, but I can feel that she is. Maybe more so than anyone else in Slayer HQ, even Faith. Her white tank top is torn and bloody, but she doesn’t seem worried about her injuries. 

Faith, on the other hand, is worried. The moment she sees the blood on Buffy, she’s standing up from the couch we’re both lounging on. 

“Everything okay B?” Faith asks. 

“I’m five by five,” Buffy says with a wink, some private joke between her and Faith. “This… big tentacle thing got the jump on us. But we took care of him pretty quickly.”

“Don’t let that shit get infected,” Faith says, pointing at Buffy’s stomach. 

“Fine, Dr. Lehane,” replies Buffy, who turns to me. “And this is the visitor Willow mentioned.”

“I’m Tamsin,” I introduce myself, standing up. I’m not even buzzed anymore, the curse of my high tolerance. Buffy looks at me, a little warily. 

“You know, usually what comes from other worlds is not at all friendly,” she says. 

“Few people have described me as friendly,” I reply. “But I’m not going to hurt any of you. Just want to go home. My friends and I had our own end of the world shit to stop. I’d like to get back to it,”. I think of my friends, facing the end of the world (an end of the world?) without me. I think of my daughter, who I thought I’d never lived to see. I still might not. 

“You’ve been warned about what will happen if you hurt any of us, right?”. I thought of Willow and her beat you over the head with a shovel talk, and nodded. These people sure did like their threats. Faith crossed her arms and sighed.

“Can we not threaten our poor guest who, by the way, saved my ass with her Valkyrie mojo?” Faith interjected. Buffy smiled a little guiltily and nodded. 

“I’m sorry. Most of what has found its way here from other worlds is Big Bad Evil. It can put a girl a little bit on edge. I’m sure we’ll all get along.” She extended her arm to me, and I shook it. Girl has a hell of a grip. Something about her reminds me of Bo - more a general feeling of goodness than anything else. There’s something else too - I can sense death all over her. Whether it’s the killing she’s done or the fact that she’s supposedly died twice, I can’t tell. She drops my hand, and I look her up and down.

“I hear you took out a God. My friends - before I ended up here, that’s what we were trying to do. Got any hot tips?” I asked. I might never get back where I belonged, but if I did - knowing something about taking down a God might be helpful. Buffy smiles, but something in her eyes is pained. 

“Fighting a God is a good way to end up dead.” Buffy answers. Faith and the younger slayers exchange looks. Seems like this might be a tricky subject. 

One of the girls from Buffy’s squad puts a hand on Buffy’s shoulder. Buffy flinches, and the girl removes her hand swiftly. The slayer is Japanese, I think - if this world has a Japan. Faith clears her throat. I want to say something about how Buffy is very definitely not-dead, but I keep my words to myself. 

“I should deal with the whole stomach wound issue,” says Buffy awkwardly, excusing herself. “Welcome to Slayer HQ, Tamsin. I’m sure we’ll get along fine.” She heads for the stairs, and the girl who tried to comfort her follows at her heels, like a puppy. 

I sit back down on the black leather couch. Faith scratches the back of her head for a moment, then sits down next to me. 

“She’s not always like that.” Faith reassures me. “We try not to talk about her death. She’s gotten better about it - it’s just a bit of a sore subject.” 

I nod. Death has never been that way for me, but people don’t usually come back. It’s not a natural thing for most people. 

“Is B, I mean Buffy, dating that girl?” I asked. The room goes silent. The Slayers in the kitchen who are putting together dinner pause in their loud banter. Faith gets a look in her eyes, half longing half annoyance.

Kennedy walks from the kitchen to the living room, stands in front of Faith and I.

“The answer is technically no,” Kennedy says. Faith’s jaw tightens. “If Satsu had her way, it would definitely be yes, but as-is they’re just sleeping together.” 

“That’s B’s business, not ours.” Faith says. Clearly I’ve just thrown myself on a landmine. Also, is everyone in this house gay? Kennedy and Willow. Buffy and Satsu. Whatever’s going on with Faith and Buffy. These love triangles are as twisted as anything Bo was ever involved in. 

“Nothing is private in this house,” retorts Kennedy. “Everyone talks about my relationship troubles, I get to talk about yours. Fair is fair.” 

“Kennedy, remember for a moment that you’re not in charge. Walk away, and shut up.” Faith’s hand is balled into a fist now. Kennedy backs up, her hands raised in surrender. 

Faith and I sit in silence for a moment, and I watch her fist uncurl slowly. 

I know exactly what the look on her face is now. I’ve seen it often enough on my own in the mirror. Faith’s in love with Buffy, and Buffy doesn’t love her back. I want to say something, offer some kind of condolences, but I know I wouldn’t have wanted to hear it. 

Faith stands up slowly, looks at me for the first time in a few minutes. “Any interest in beating the shit out of a punching bag?” she asks. Honestly, it sounds fantastic to me. “Girls - leave us some dinner, okay?”. Kennedy grunts in reply, and I follow Faith upstairs.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’M BACK. And yes I’ve written a few chapters in advance - y’all won’t be without content for a good bit. 
> 
> This chapter is about :GIRLS TALKIN’ BOUT FEELINGS. 
> 
> So I realized that I mentioned a Dana in an earlier chapter - this is not the mentally ill slayer Dana who angel dealt with. I seem to have remembered the name but nothing about her so boom - new slayer.

I’m not sure what I expected from a Slayer gym, but the place is beyond state of the art. I’ve seen fae gyms with less equipment. Some of it seems custom built to withstand super-human strength. Faith makes a beeline straight for one of several punching bags. 

“You wanna hold the bag for me?” she asks. I have a hundred questions, about this place, about Buffy Summers. But I keep my mouth shut. This may not be the time - especially not for questions about Buffy. I nod, and walk over to the bag, grabbing it. 

Faith starts punching. Hard, but I can tell she’s holding something back. I could handle more. 

“I’m sure you can do better than that.” I needle. And then she’s punching with full force and it’s all I can do to keep the damn bag steady. I would not want to be on the other end of a punch like that. Hell - I’m not sure how the bag is handling that kind of force. “Does being around her always do this to you?” I ask. The moment it’s out of my mouth I regret it. But Faith doesn’t seem to be upset by me.

“I tried to kill her a couple times. She and I are like two things that don’t mix.” she says. 

“Oil and water?” I reply. I remember fighting Bo, the thrill and the despair of it. More and more I learned that Faith and I were alike.

“Something like that,” she replies. “I think it’s more that we could have worked, but I screwed it up with the whole murder thing.” She throws one more earth shattering punch, and steps away from the bag, panting a little. 

“And now she’s with some other girl and it hurts, right?” I ask. I shouldn’t press like this, but I can’t help but see the parallels. Faith looks me right in the eye and shrugs.  
“I don’t envy Satsu. Not one bit. If B had her way, none of us would know about their thing. That’s not what I want.” 

“I asked earlier - is every Slayer gay? Is that just a mystical thing?” I ask. A slight smile comes across Faith’s face for the first time since Kennedy started taunting her. 

“Most of us are bisexual, I think. I definitely am. Kennedy - she’s an exception, definitely gay. Same with Satsu. B - no one knows what’s going on with her. She’s got a definite stick up her ass about any sapphic feelings. There are straight slayers though - as far as any of us know, Rhona’s straight.Vi is asexual. We’ve got all kinds - though you’re right, most of us dig women. Any more invasive questions?” she replies playfully.

“I had a B. A Bo, actually. Brilliant and virtuous and never, ever mine. Best thing that ever happened to me but never enough. Bo and the family she made are what I’m looking to get back to. That and my daughter.” The words leave my mouth almost against my will. I’m not normally a sharer. But there is something about Faith that makes her seem like a kindred spirit.

“Sounds to me like you need a turn on the bag,” offers Faith. God, that sounds amazing. She steps back to the bag, holds it for me. And I let loose. Punch after punch after punch for everything I’ve been through. For the shit that happened with Hades. For apocalypse after apocalypse. For the love I’d found with Bo and the way it was never enough. It was almost a meditative experience, letting it all out. When I was done, I was sweaty and satisfied. 

“You hit pretty hard,” she says. I know I’m not as strong as her, not in this way, but I appreciate the compliment.  
“I’m better with a sword than I am with my fists. But thank you.” I reply.

“And I’m sorry Bo was too straight for you.” she commiserates. I half laugh, half snort.

“Bo’s into women. She’s just… into a specific woman who isn’t me. I just couldn’t measure up to the hot doctor,” I said, bitterly. It’s useless for me to feel like this, especially when I may not even be able to go back. Lauren doesn’t even deserve my anger. Faith puts a hand on my shoulder, a little awkwardly. 

“There’s this… thing happening in a week. B’s little sister Dawnie’s getting married. I’d rather not show up alone and feel sorry for myself. And you seem like a great person to get drunk with at a wedding, so would you come with me? Platonic as hell, of course - we can find you someone to sleep with, help you get over your oddly named woman.” I crack a smile. It’s probably a good idea for me to get under someone else, even if I know it’s not going to kill the ache in my heart. Faith removes her hand, just as awkwardly as she placed it. “Sound good to you?” she asks. 

“I’m in - on the condition that we find you a someone too.” She nods, and the deal is made. Faith heads for the stairs.

“We’d better get some dinner - it’s probably cold now.” My stomach grumbles at the mention of food. Yeah, I could use some dinner. I follow her back down to the kitchen, where Kennedy is washing the dishes sullenly.

“You probably want to microwave that stuff,” Kennedy recommends, not looking away from her dishes. 

Faith makes me a plate of pot roast and potatoes. It’s more food than I usually eat in a day, and the plate she makes herself is even larger. I get the sense Slayer powers require a lot of food.

I sit down at the counter and eat my food slowly. Faith eats quickly and ravenously. In the end, I’m left with half a full plate.

“You gonna eat that?” asks Faith. I push my plate towards her, and watch her inhale the food. When she’s done, she sets her gaze on me. “You wanna fight something tonight? I’m taking a few girls out on a patrol.” The thing is, I shouldn’t say yes. I should be conserving energy, especially now that I’m probably dying again. But I could also definitely use a fight.

“I’m down,” I reply.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So. I hate combat scenes - they're very difficult for me to write. BUT. How could I resist some slaying?

I’m learning something about Slayer patrol. It’s all about waiting for the action. We’ve found just one vampire tonight, who Rona made quick work of. 

I’m not sure what I had expected, but I’d thought with all the dimensional bullshit going on that I was going to end up fighting a little more. The good part of the patrol so far was the sword I carried on my hip, a rapier that must have been an antique. 

Rona, Vi, and Kennedy rounded out our group. Kennedy and Faith seemed to have a little bit of a power struggle going on - I could tell that Kennedy wanted her own team. From what I could tell she had the force of personality for it but not the experience.

They were at the front of the group, arguing with each other in hushed tones. Then - I saw it. At the edge of the cemetery, light warping in unnatural ways, like a small localized aurora borealis. I was not the only one to notice.

“Universal warping,” exclaimed Vi. Faith and Kennedy went silent. Faith doubled back to stand beside me.

“This is what it looks like when the worlds touch. If Willow was here we could close it - but it’s like repairing a car with duct tape. Something else is going to go wrong, and eventually the tape falls off anyway. Right now there’s nothin’ to do but wait. I’ll drop a text back to Slayer HQ, and let them know we’re dealing with a visitor.” Faith pulled out her phone, sent a message, and shoved it back in the pocket of her leather jacket. “B’s coming over with backup in case things go south. What we’re gonna do is kick this thing’s ass as soon as it shows up, and leave her and her squad with nothing to do - sound good girls?” Kennedy and Rhona nod. Vi remains quiet, but she has a set of knives in her hands at the ready. Faith told me earlier that if cops find them with weapons, they call themselves a historical reenactment group. The thought of Faith dressed up like a medieval wench had been comical.

The light rippled and pulsed, expanding. 

“Shit, it’s gonna be big,” lamented Rona, shifting impatiently, axe in hand. Then, out of the light emerged something I’d seen before, a good thousand years ago. It was a Man-Eater, a race of underfae I’d thought had died out centuries ago. They looked like enormous, grotesque men. This one was wearing the scalps of men he’d eaten as clothing. I had hoped to never see one again - though in my time as a bounty hunter I’d seen several. Though none of them had been quite THIS large.

“Watch out - that thing eats people!” I yelled. “It’s from my dimension.” 

“Note to self - don’t get eaten,” said Faith. Then she took off running towards the creature, two shortswords in hand. The other slayers followed behind her, and I followed. The monster was the size of 5 men. Thankfully the bastard was weaponless. Faith had already reached him, and was avoiding his meaty fists easily. She sidestepped every blow. It was incredibly impressive to watch. 

Kennedy stopped a little ways away from the monster, and sent a bolt from her crossbow right into his left eye. The Man-Eater groaned angrily, and swept his leg, knocking Faith down. It was at this point that I arrived in the fray, slicing ineffectually at his arm. He didn’t bleed much, but it got him away from Faith, and it gave Rona time to slice him in the back with her axe. Faith leapt back to her feet, swords in hand. 

“Any tips on killing this bastard?” she asked. The Man-Eater spun around, intent on Rona. Kennedy got another crossbow bolt in, this time through the back of the monster’s head. Little Vi was trying to stab him in the side of the leg with her small knives, but wasn’t having much luck. I knew from experience that his skin was TOUGH. 

“Stay away from the mouth. It dies like most things die - blood loss, head cut off, the works.” I advised, while making a stab at the bottom of one of the Man-eater’s feet as he attempted to step on Vi. Faith nodded.

“I need someone to distract him for a bit,” Faith yelled. Immediately, Kennedy had dropped the crossbow and was running at the creature, screaming wordlessly as she did it. She pulled a longsword off her back as she ran. Deciding that I might as well join her and help Faith do whatever she was planning, I started yelling too, in between stabs to his legs. 

Faith ran behind the monster, and took a running jump, dropping her swords. It was higher than I’d have expected, and she ended up with both hands around his neck. Faith began to squeeze, and the creature shook viciously trying to get her off. She just held on harder. The Man-eater could no longer focus on the rest of us, and I got a good stab at his genitals. Vi threw one of her knives, embedding it in the monster’s eye. Rona started slicing chunks out of the creature’s back with her axe. As we fought, I saw the Man-Eater’s face get redder and redder, as he slowly lost the ability to fight. At a certain point he was no longer trying to kill us or to get Faith off his neck, just pathetically staggering about. 

“He’s gonna fall - everybody run,” yelled Faith. We all scattered quickly. And then the Man-eater fell over, with Faith still holding on for dear life. When she fell, she dusted herself off, picked her sword off the ground, and stabbed the monster unceremoniously through the eye and into the brain, killing him instantly.

In the distance, Buffy was yelling. “Did you have to finish before we got here?” she shouted playfully. She ran over to Faith, a group of slayers following behind her. “That was impressive. What the hell was that thing?” she asked. 

“They’re called Androphagi, or Man Eaters. Never seen one quite that big.” I informed her. “They're from my world.” 

“They eat people? Definite ew. Tamsin - do these things disappear after you kill them?” she asked. What a strange question, though I suppose that’s how vampires worked.

“Sadly no. You’re stuck with the body.” Buffy made a face of disgust. 

“In that case we’ve got to get Willow in here to make the body go poof. Faith’s squad - get back to Slayer HQ. Rest up and good job. You too, Tamsin,” she said. I could see how this woman was the one who led all these warriors. I began the walk home with Faith and her squad. Faith was limping a bit from a blow she’d taken earlier, but it hardly seemed to bother her.

“Is it like this every night?” I asked. 

“Only the good ones.” replied Faith with satisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Androphagi are a greek myths thing - I figured they'd make decent underfae. Although they're not specifically giants, they definitely do eat people so I figured it worked.


End file.
